Fortune
by vonhinten
Summary: In the darkest moment of life there is always a helping hand somwhere outstretched to you - you just have to take it.
1. Chapter 1

Nothing…

…no colours…

…no lights…

An entire world drowning in darkness. A dull, hostile world. And even though it is hard to believe, existence over here is possible.

But the land has changed and with it the conditions in which the few beings lived. After the fight with Aizen life became more difficult in Hueco Mundo.

Finding food to survive became a daily struggle – especially for the higher beings such as Adjuchas or Arrancar. They were most effected of these horrible changes.

Many regressed, unable to hold their level any longer.

And the few, which survived…

…began to search for another way to carry on.

So, a lone, slender figure strode through the bleak landscape of Hueco Mundo. Its exhausted body dragging itself continuously forward in hope to stop the need raging in its abandon. Step for step the predator struggled on, always in search for a hunt. His legs hurt and so does his whole shaking body - the first signs for the upcoming regression. If he didn't find any pray soon, it wouldn't be long till he became an Adjuchas again. However, there was nothing around, just the endless dunes of sand and dust and the dark blue sky touching them in the horizont. A long journey lied behind Grimmjow. After his defeat by Ichigo he was doomed to die. That was, what he thought, as he laid unable to move, with his shattered pride in his own pool of blood. Pathetic!

The shaking got worse. His legs wouldn't carry his exhausted body any further. He had to make a decision, soon. Either he continued on his way through this country or …

He didn't want to think about the other option. It made him sick to no end!

Taking a deep breath he looked up. There was no other way to choose when he didn't want to regress. Hesitantly he raised a shaking hand and touched the air. And immediately a Garganta opened its mouth in front of its creator. The first step was tentatively done, before Grimmjow once again turned around to take a last look at his previous home. He wouldn't see any of this for a long time, and believe it or not – he missed it yet. With another step he vanished into the black mouth, leading him into complete darkness and an unknown future.


	2. Chapter 2

The early evening was fresh, the air motionless and the young autumn slowly painted the leaves, giving the park a colourful blanket of yellow, red and brown. Leisurely the sun made its way over the horizon, colouring the sky in a pictorial touch. And soon it would disappear as the ball of fire would vanish behind the skyline of Karakura.

Over the hours the park had emptied. The only inhabitants were some lonely hobos who were searching for proper night quarters. One had made himself at home on a bench located between a few trees, his golden retriever sniffing around. Lazily he sat down and spread a newspaper over the wooden rods. Then he turned to his card digging inside before he pulled out a tattered, torn jacket. He laid down, covering himself with it, to have just a little protection against the rather cool nights these days. His dog, always present, jumped onto the bench, laid down at his food end and offered additional heat. The old man was fast asleep, as his slow, steady snoring filled the air. Drifted away like that he didn't notice the presence behind him in the tree.

Exhausted icy blue eyes observed from their heightened position every single movement the poor homeless guy did, until they couldn't keep open itself any longer. He was trained to always look out for any danger. In Hueco Mundo every time an attack could happen. But now the only danger here was to get seen by a lowly human. So with that calming his mind Grimmjow looked a last time emotionless to the still busy streets next to, till he let his body finally relax as sleep overcame him.

The Arrancar was so weak he didn't even notice the many high spirit pressures being on patrol guard in town. And luckily they didn't notice his low one either. Time was hard for the Soul society. Since the incident with Aizen much more Hollows broke into the real world. And with the month passing, they seemed to become wilder and more aggressive, devouring human souls with great hunger. So was it, that Head captain Yamamoto had to send new backups every two days, replacing the previous shift. The old man was stressed and looked very pale since the events of the last month were gnawing on his nerves. But he didn't take a rest. In contrary – he kept holding meetings with each team that came back. Today was no exception. He took the detailed report the captain of team twelve wrote about their operation and flew once again over it, before he looked up to captain Kurotsuchi sitting in front of him on the other side of the Hibachi table. The old man laid the paper to his left and took a deep breath, eyes still on the sheets. Then he turned to his subordinate.

"It gets worse and worse every day. I wonder how long we can hold our defending wall against them.", Yamamoto brought out calmly, his voice low and raspy.

"It's true. They are coming in hordes, they are aggressive and do everything to get their hands on human souls.", captain Kurotsuchi noted. "But I made a very important discovery the other day." Now he bend slightly forward, his characteristical smirk widening. That got Yamamotos very attention. Curious he waited for his subordinate to continue.

"Although they are more frustrated and fight with all they have," he began quietly, " they're getting weaker." Yamamoto eyes widened a little. "The last Adjuchas I saw was last month. Since then neither Arrancars nor Adjuchas broke into the real world. The highest beings who are passing the barrier are Gillians and even they seem to become seldom." He raised his index finger "The problem here is they are coming into the other dimension because food is scarce in Hueco Mundo. They are so desperate for it even the weakest hollows trying to get trough our barrier to not to regress. And exactly here lies our problem."

After Kurotsuchi finished the old man looked thoughtfully down onto the table. He had no solution for this. His area of responsibility only restricted on the Soul Society and the human world. Problems regarding Hueco Mundo laid not in his hands. – So, what to do?

After a long moment of silence Yamamoto finally cut the quietness

"Our duty is to protect the human world from danger and to guide the souls into our dimension." He took a raspy breath.

"… So that should be our destiny."

Sleepy, steel blue eyes opened itself to the bright sunlight shining through the thick crown treetop. Here and there some birds where chirping their morning songs and the streets seemed to become busier by the minute. But Grimmjow didn't notice all that. His whole body was still in a bad shape. The lack of food took its toll on him. The only motor making him move was hunger. Great hunger! And so he slit of the branch and rather crashed than landed with his shaky legs on the dry earth. There he stood for a few moments, taking in his surroundings, which he could now see more clearly than the night before. And just in that moment and for a ting of a second he lost his hungry feeling, as his eyes marvelled the wonderful play of light and colours this world consisted of.

His hungry eyes roamed a little more, till he saw the hobo next to him on the bench still sleeping. He took in his whole appearance. The rags he had on, the card with all his dingy belongings in it and the face scarred by life, but showing of a peaceful expression. The man was rather old – maybe in his 60's, was black and had short, curly hair. Grimmjows stare was intensive and cold and not just because the old guy reminded him of Tousen, his former commanding officer. He was one of the people whose face showed of always all inmost feelings. And now someone could read just how much the hollow wished to end this miserable existence just for the sake of it. His stare felt to the food end, where the dog laid. Surprisingly the Arrancar met dark brown, affectionate eyes. The dog looked right back to him and for a few seconds, there was an awkward silence between them, until Grimmjow turned away. He had to focus back on more important things. So he broke eye contact and a last time he took in his surroundings before he shuffled aimlessly away. Back on the bench the retriever watched the Arrancar disappear and turned to sleep again.

Over the hours Grimmjows shaking got worse. His whole body was preparing for the upcoming regression in this last state of transformation. The Arrancars mind was consumed by just one drive:

Eating!

And with no space anymore for rational thoughts or complex considerations the animal inside him took control. His strides got faster, and faster, till he was running and jumping over the roofs of Karakura town like a blood thirsty zombie. Wheezing he searched around, sniffed the air and listened to the wind, like a beast on hunt. Using all his senses he found fast what he'd been looking for: the spirit of another Hollow a few blocks away. Almost flying he immediately attacked it by crashing right into the being who was as much haggard as himself. Blown away the Hollow recovered quickly and changed into attack. Its huge, man-sized paws hammering down on Grimmjow, who had trouble to dodge. Nothing was left of his earlier strength and speed, though the animal inside him consumed every bit of reserves he had. As time passed and nothing got better during the fight, he became more desperate and changed into in-fight – a big mistake! Without thinking he drew Panthera and was about to make his overhasty move – hadn't there been these large hands reaching for him. A blast to the side made his precious sword flying to the left and him crashing to the ground – unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

Just like any other day the school bell rang on time at 8 o'clock. And just like any other day the to-late-comer kept running in hope not to get punished by their teachers. Sad for some of them: running didn't help them anymore.

Biology turned out to be rather boring today for class 11b. At least it would explain the permanent low mumbling one could hear from the far corners of the room. Bio-Chemi was uninteresting anyways – why would you need to know how body fat turned into energy? So the teacher mostly talked to himself whereas the pupil drew random pictures, read their hidden comic magazines or just stuck their heads together. Someone would take notes in any case. And someone did. Orihime Inoue practically hung on every word of professor Sandt. It was her whom the others approached, when they needed school stuff. Especially English and biology were her favourites. Sadly the class ended with the ring of the school bell. Immediately all her classmates started packing, while their teacher still explained the structure of ATM. The mumbling developed into normal conversations and soon after died down as the pupils stormed to the door and out into the hallway. Left alone, Mr. Sandt now started also packing.

In class 11a whereas, the young adults were still sitting quietly on their chairs, head bowed in concentration over their sheets of paper. Their teacher in front of them looked on his watch.

"Only 5 more minutes!", he informed his protégées and harvested peeved groaning.

Almost immediately the scribbling of the pencils got faster. Everyone tried to finish their last tasks in time, which turned out to be rather difficult. The test demanded much specialised knowledge from the pupils. They had a hard time answering the questions. Even Ichigo Kurosaki, one of the best students had his difficulties. He sat currently on his window seat and chewed in concentration on the end of his pencil. But that was all he did. The last question was left unanswered.

"Time is up!" the teacher arose from his chair. A loud groaning sounded, but he ignored it anyway. "Please, turn your papers and I'm going through to collect them. I wish you a good day." Instantly the pupils began packing. None of them could wait anymore, till they could get out of the room.

In the hallway a still sleepy and grummy Ichigo seemed to take his bag for a walk. His nerves had calmed down greatly since the test. It was right – he hadn't learned a bit for it - just couldn't. The town stayed terrorized by Hollows so he had to go out almost every day. There seemed to be no end to the constant attacks. The soul reaper was just tired, really tired.

"Ichigo!" a low, familiar voice called behind him. He turned and was greeted by Chads tall figure.

"Hi, how was the day?" Ichigo said out of monotony rather than interest.

"Not bad" Chad took a few strides towards his friend. "At least I didn't write a test during …"

"Oh, … come on …" The redhead cut in. "I don't want to be remembered of the possibly worst test I ever wrote!" He seemed tired.

"Was it that bad?" his tall friend asked in his calming low voice as they began walking along the hall together. Ichigo sighted.

"Yeah, … I think so …"

"… hm … You give your best, but you have to watch out, that you don't give too much" his tall friend commented after a moment, - and Chad was right, the soulreaper had worn himself out. It was best, if he stayed out of battles for a few days to regenerate. He had to concentrate more on school. But that was easier said than done. How could he – a substitute soulreaper – throw away such a great responsibility?

No, no, he had to fight!

But, …

… on the other side would he be only a burden to the others in his weakening state.

He was riven.

Ichigo was so in fight with himself, he didn't notice the calls of Orihime from afar. Chad whoever did. He raised an arm, waving it in greetings.

"Hey guys!" she approached cheerfully her smile always present. Now also Ichigo noticed her and put on a smiling face. After all he didn't want to make a fuss about his problems.

Joyful and a little childish she began the conversation:

"Ohh…! I'm so excited! You want to know what happened?" she said exhilarated, jumping a little up and down, while waiting electrified for a response. But the spark was not really flying between her and Ichigo. Chad aware of the red heads absence was the one who took the next step.

"What happened?" he asked calmly.

"A few classmates and I were chosen for a project in Physic! It's for a contest this winter and the winner gets 1000 Euro and free tickets for any museum in Karakura! Isn't that great?" A short pause in which Ichigo had to comprehend said words first.

"Oh, … yeah …" came it hesitantly from him afterwards, as he kept smiling stupidly.

"Chizuru told me just now – I haven't even heard. But she said she had it from …" And there Ichigo spaced out. He hadn't the energy for this, nor for a test – he was totally worn out. So he just nodded when he thought it would fit and repeated here and there the last few words of a sentence.

….

After the pause they had class again. For Ichigo meant that math, for Orihime and Chad was it German. Sadly they were placed in three different classes at the beginning of the year. No one of them had the same timetable than the other. Also Uryu was not anymore going to their school. He got a scholarship for an elite school in Tokyo and took the opportunity immediately. Everyone was happy at that moment, but with the decision he made came also the bitter moment of saying good bye. Here and there some tears were running, gifts were handed over and of course everyone wished him the very best start into his new life. The last they saw from him was his fading image of him in front of their eyes.

Since then more than a month had passed. And slowly they adapted to this new situation – the human was, after all, just a creature of habit. Everyone tied new bonds and networked, finding their position in class rather quickly. Chad was at first an exception - because of his intimidating features nobody in his class wanted to get near him. But soon after most of his old mates were integrated in certain groups he too got friends.

Days passed rather fast and the hollow attacks didn't stop. The annoying low levelled creatures kept breaking into the real world without pause. Fight after fight was held, not only during the night, but also during school. Alone this made Ichigo lag behind his friends in class. Pupils couldn't afford to just miss only one single day. And to make things worse, the subject matter in school got more difficult. The nightmares he had and the lack of sleep did the rest. This ate up enormous energy which his body couldn't summon anymore. So it didn't take more than a small confrontation with a bully that made the substitute Shinigami break down completely.

On this said day the ambulance took his burned out self to the Karakura Hospital, where he would need weeks to recover – and not only from his physical condition, but also from his mental state.

No Grimmjow in this.


End file.
